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The Reusable Industrial Packaging Association (RIPA) was originally founded in 1942 as the National Barrel and Drum Association (NABADA). It was one of the first trade associations to represent the industrial packaging business in North America, and is a co-founder and Board member of the International Confederation of Container Reconditioners (ICCR). RIPA represents all parts of the industrial packaging industry, including reconditioners, manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, and packagers. The purposes of the association are to promote Responsible Packaging Management as well as serve as a focal point for the industry's collective action on legislative issues, regulatory, standards, and legal matters at the international, national and state levels.

As Great Western grew in the 1990’s, we looked for a way to extend our connections in the packaging industry so that we could give our customers better information about upcoming changes and trends in packaging and legislation. In 2000, Nils thought it was a good idea to attend these meetings and GWC has had representation ever since.

In addition to the monthly RIPA newsletter which you may have seen, RIPA holds two meetings each year. The first meeting is generally held in April or May, and is called the Technical Meeting. Its purpose is to focus on the technical and regulatory aspects of our business as well as to include a tour of a facility. The fall or Annual General Meeting incorporates the legal requirements of holding an assembly of the association, but more importantly focuses on a higher level view of trends and issues in, and affecting our industry.

This April the Technical Meeting was held in Anaheim, California and Ken Chisholm, Alanna Deis and I attended. For those of you that haven’t had a chance to attend, following is a summary of what happens at these RIPA events.

The meetings started with a reception on the Sunday night. The purpose of the opening reception is to give members a chance to re-connect and meet new attendees. It was sponsored by four Southern California member companies, Apex Drum, B. Stephan Cooperage, Capital Drum, and Ted Levine Drum Co. 

This was Alanna’s first RIPA conference, Ken has been to a few meetings in the past, but still, at the end of 2 hours, all of us were pretty much overwhelmed by the number of new people we had met, and new connections made.

Monday had three main components:

• Morning was devoted to four product group sessions, steel drum, plastic drum, fibre drum, and IBC. By breaking the main sectors of our business into these product groups, it allows the smaller groups to focus specifically on issues affecting that sector, such as new testing techniques for steel drums, standards regarding the reconditioning of IBC’s, etc.
• Afternoon was the Board of Directors meeting. At these meetings, the association financial reports are presented, product group and other reports are heard, and the association is given direction on the initiatives it is to undertake over the next period of time.
• Evening was the Chairman’s reception. It was another chance to network, discuss some of the technical issues raised during the day, and enjoy the pleasant California evening.

Tuesday saw the main conference program presented in the morning. It included presentations on risk management for our industry, safety and market statistics regarding composite IBC’s, “green” marketing, and finally, report on issues for industrial packaging given by Tony Lima, a senior manager at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

Tuesday afternoon centred on a tour of the Industrial Container Services (ICS) drum plant in Montebello. ICS arranged for the California chain of IN-N-OUT Burgers to be on site to provide an unexpected fun lunch, and then graciously allowed us full access to the plant while it was in regular production. This is a high speed plant that specialises in open head drums, in what is probably the strictest environmental framework anywhere in North America. It was wonderful to tour this facility with our peers, and be able to discuss and debate the various machines and their way of processing the material flow.

The companies that join RIPA, and the people behind those companies are truly unique. They represent the very best that our industry has to offer on many levels. In addition to the expected attributes, such as technical expertise, and knowledge of regulations and standards, there are also shining examples of kindness, generosity, and deep abiding friendships. It’s nice company to keep!

Eric Storey